Selma Porobić

Associate Professor

Based at the University of Rijeka since 2026, Selma Porobić is an associate professor of interdisciplinary social sciences specialising in forced migration, peacebuilding, and social policy. Drawing on migration studies, sociology, psychology, international law, and human rights, she explores long-term recovery and collective social trauma in post-conflict societies and the role of higher education in peacebuilding through trauma-informed and peace-oriented pedagogies. Her work connects empirical research with policy debates on displacement, post-conflict reconstruction, and sustainable social recovery. She is the author of 35 scholarly publications, including the edited volume Forced Migration, Gender and Wellbeing: The Long-Term Effects of War and Displacement on Women (Edward Elgar, 2023). Her academic career encompasses extensive teaching at postgraduate level across Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Central Europe, and the Western Balkans, spanning migration studies, psychology, humanitarian studies, social anthropology and social work. Alongside research and teaching, she has held senior academic and institutional leadership positions, including Director of the CESI research centre (UNHCR/UNSA), Research Director of the Foundation for Women’s Empowerment in Sarajevo, and Head of the Department of Humanitarian Studies and Assistant Professor at Palacký University Olomouc. At the Rectorate of Palacký University, she served as adviser for European Higher Education and Institutional Coordinator of the Aurora European University Alliance, leading international capacity-building initiatives across Central and Eastern Europe and academic support programmes for Ukrainian universities.

Education

Selma Porobić holds a PhD in Migration Studies (2012), an MA and BA in Migration and Psychology, and a BA in Theology with a focus on Psychology of Religion, all from Lund University, Sweden. Her postgraduate training includes the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from Fordham University and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and the Cultures of Exile specialisation at the Centre for Migration and Refugee Studies, American University in Cairo. During her doctoral studies, she was also a Visiting PhD Fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre, Department of International Development, University of Oxford.

Areas of expertise

forced migration and displacement
return migration and reintegration
collective trauma with focus on social trauma
peacebuilding and justice frameworks
transnationalism and diaspora studies
migration, identity, and belonging
religion, spirituality, and resilience
higher education in conflict contexts
European higher education and science policy

Methodological expertise

qualitative and longitudinal research
narrative and life-history methods
collaborative and participatory approaches
interdisciplinary and integrative research design

Courses at UNIRI

Work and Wellbeing YUFE Minor 30 ECTS (UNIRI) (Spring 2027, Minor coordinator & course holder for Research Methods&Techniques 7 ECTS and elective Migration, Labour Rights & Challenges: Anthropology of Work 3ECTS)
Education for a Peaceful World: Ethics of Learning After Violence, YUFE BIP (Autumn 2027, Course holder).

Courses before joining UNIRI

(Palacký University Olomouc, MA programme in International Social and Humanitarian Work)

- - Challenges of Humanitarian and International Social Work
  - Social and Cultural Anthropology
  - Refugee Law and Human Rights: European Refugee Law
  - Selected Problems of International Law: Migration and Human Rights
  - Social Work in Multicultural Settings
  - Practice Supervision
  - Collaborative Approach to Building Resilient Communities
  - Psychosocial Crisis Cooperation
  - Development of Humanitarian Organisations

(International University of Sarajevo, MA in Clinical Psychology)

- - Research Designs and Academic Writing
  - Counselling
  - Psychology in Practice
  - Psychodiagnostics
  - Psychology of Religion

(Global Human Rights Campus / University of Bologna and University of Sarajevo)

- - Introduction to International Law and Human Rights: International Refugee Law and Human Rights

(Lund University, Department of Migration Studies)

- - Migration in European and Swedish Perspectives

Projects in progress

- - Scholars at Risk (SAR) Network Programme Development at UNIRI – Developing the UNIRI SAR activities portfolio, with an initial focus on a SAR Lecture Series and hosting a SAR Fellow through the CAS/RECAS Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (2026–2027). As UNIRI’s primary SAR representative, coordinating the initiative with University leadership in close cooperation with SAR Europe and the SAR New York office.
  - Revisiting Return Policies: Institutional Preparedness for Refugee Return and Reintegration – Research collaboration with Kirsten McConnachie (University of East Anglia) examining the erosion of rights-based return as well as local institutional preparedness and post-return realities in conflict-affected contexts. Current outputs include UK FCDO funding applications, a planned special issue and an article in development for the Journal of Refugee Studies.
  - From Violence to Learning: Social Trauma and Peace Education in Transitional Contexts – Comparative research on Ukraine, Syria, Rwanda, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Larisa K. Kafedžić (University of Sarajevo Peace Education Hub) and Juliet Millican (Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex). A book chapter submitted as a result of the EISA conference in Bologna 2025 for a Palgrave-edited volume on Transitional Justice, and an ESRC grant proposal planned for early 2027.
  - Western Balkans Peace Education Pedagogies University Network – Contributing to the development of a regional, UNESCO-supported university initiative on peace education pedagogies, led by the Peace Education Hub in Sarajevo, aimed at strengthening academic cooperation, pedagogical innovation, and peace-oriented higher education across the Western Balkans. COST Action submission in preparation for October 2026.

Science communication / public engagement

- - Researchers Night 2026 @UNIRI/Noć istraživača, Where Disciplines Meet, Ideas Change the World/Gdje se susreću discipline, nastaju ideje koje mijenjaju svijet. (representing CAS SEE)
  - UNESCO World Science Day for Peace and Development. Obilježavanje Dana znanosti 2026 (u SOCRI organizaciji)Predstavljanje mreže Schoalrs at Risk@UNIRI /’Znanost bez granica: Scholars at Risk i odgovornost sveučilišta’.(open/day event planned with SAR guest lecture fellow)
  - “Balkan control – cartography of migration routes and mobility control in the Western Balkans” – exhibition and discussion at CAS / Moise Palace with Lucie Bacon, Université de Bretagne Occidentale (collaboration event planned for Autmn 2027).

Publications

Monographs and edited books

- - “Forced Migration, Gender and Wellbeing: The Long-Term Effects of War and Displacement on Women” (co-edited with B. Blitz, 2023)
  - “A Gender Study of Forced Migration and Wellbeing in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (editor, 2016)
  - “Resilience and Religion in a Forced Migration Context: A Narrative Study of Religiousness as a Resilience Factor from a Post-Migration Perspective of Bosnian Refugees in Sweden” (monograph, 2012)

Original scholarly articles

- - “Transnational Processes of Memory, Migration and Identity in Central and South-Eastern Europe” (2025)
  - “Social Distance Towards Migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Role of Social Work in Their Integration” (2022)
  - “Parents in Exile: Challenges of Parenting Among Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Bulgaria” (2019)
  - “Lidé v ohrožení” (2019)
  - “Bosnian ‘Returnee Voices’ Communicating Experiences of Successful Reintegration” (2016)
  - “Daring ‘life-return projects’ to post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina” (2016)
  - “Verification of the Metric Characteristics and Factor Analysis of the SS-A Social Support Scale” (2016)

Book chapters

- - “A Dialogue on Return Migration and Identity: Hybridity, Autoethnography, and Scholarly Ethics” (2026)
  - “From Violence to Learning: Comparative Perspectives on Social Trauma and Peace Education in Transitional Contexts” (2026/27, in preparation)
  - “Introduction to Forced Migration, Gender and Wellbeing” (2023)
  - “Conclusions to Forced Migration, Gender and Wellbeing” (2023)
  - “Life Histories of Ethnic Violence, Displacement and Recovery among Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia” (2023)
  - “Ethnography of Everyday Life among Female Forced Migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia” (2023)
  - “On the Relationship Between Social Identity Transformations and Social Trauma” (2022)
  - “Social Identity Transformations and Social Trauma Nexus” (2020)
  - “Long-Term Adaptation Among Naturalised Bosnian Refugees in Sweden—Existential Preoccupation, Spirituality and Resilience” (2020)
  - “How Can Refugees Heal?” (2018)
  - “Access to Asylum and Reception conditions in Western Balkans” (2017)
  - “Invisible returns of former Bosnian refugees and sociality of their well-being” (2017)
  - “Gender, Forced Migration and Wellbeing” (2016)

Journals, policy briefs and reports

- Transnational Processes of Memory, Migration and Identity in Central-Eastern Europe (guest editor, 2025)
- Mapping of Needs of Returnees and Displaced Persons (2023)
- Dealing with Trauma of War through Education for Peace (2020)
- Lidé v ohrožení (co-editor, 2019)
- Social Trauma and Forced Migration – Rethinking Integration, Education and Mental Health (2019)
- Clearing the Path to Wellbeing (2016)
- “Asking the right questions in research on psychosocial well-being” (2015)
- Dayton+20 Special Issue (guest editor, 2015)
- An Overlooked Potential of Social Capital in Returnee Communities (2014)
- “They are doing it for themselves.” (2014)
- Analysis of Potentials of Emigrants’ Contribution to Social Development Sectors in BiH (2014)
- Research on public attitudes toward persons with mental disorders (2012)
- “Searching for significance in IMER research: the application of extreme cases methodology” (2010)